They’re looking for tendencies, weaknesses and anything else that could give him an edge.
The pair completed that ritual twice Friday at the Pepsi Center after Colter McMenimen lost his quarterfinal match and won his first consolation bout.
Brush’s Alec Pettersen, the third-ranked wrestler in Class 3A at 138 pounds, handled Colter McMenimen 14-6 to advance to the semifinals and knock McMenimen into the consolation bracket.
“I just came out slow, sluggish and scared,” said McMenimen, son of Missy and the coach. “I got in a hole I couldn’t get myself out of.”
He rebounded with a pin in the second round of the consolation bracket against Cesar Morales of Ellicott 26 seconds into the second round to set up a third round consolation match against Lamar’s Kaleb Hansen.
“I’m upset from this morning; I tried to use that,” McMenimen said. “Motivation is to come back and get third. That’s all I can do.”
The moments like those right after Colter McMenimen’s quarterfinal loss complicate his relationship with his coach/father.
Todd McMenimen is more emotionally invested in Colter than any other wrestler, so he has to try and keep his emotions in check in high-pressure situations.
It doesn’t always happen.
“I had to let him go do his thing and take his time to cool down before I went and talked to him,” coach McMenimen said. “I definitely take the emotion to another level.”
Still, Colter McMenimen is glad his dad is his coach. He doesn’t feel like the wrestling conflicts with the family aspect or vice versa.
“It’s nice because we can talk a little differently as father/son than coach/wrestler,” Colter McMenimen said. “I like having my dad as a coach.”
That doesn’t mean Todd McMenimen tries to go out of his way to spoil Colter with all of his attention.
“I try to treat him like any other wrestler,” he said.
Bayfield’s other wrestler, Ryan Nava, found himself in the same position McMenimen did Friday. He lost his quarterfinal match by way of a pin 55 seconds into the second period against Lamar’s Michael Johnson.
Nava rebounded in the consolation bracket with a 16-3 major decision over Eaton’s Erich Russ.
“I think I had a pretty good match. I dominated early and used the anger from my quarterfinals match,” said Nava, son of Ramona Nava and Allec Rodriguez. “Fuel to the fire helped me out a lot.”
He’ll wrestle Andrew Jaramillo from Platte Valley in Saturday’s consolation third round.
The consolation third round will begin at 10:30 a.m.
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